Oceano Digital Site - Sitio oficial de Oceano Digital, seccion de Editorial OceanoOceano Digital Site - Sitio oficial de Oceano Digital, seccion de Editorial OceanoOceano Digital Site - Sitio oficial de Oceano Digital, seccion de Editorial Oceano
Océano Digital is listed as one of the most prestigious providers of digital reference tools. Various comments and references confirm it!
Index of References
Who's Who in U.S. Spanish-Language Publishing
Yuri P. Chávez
General Manager of Editorial Océano, Inc. (Miami, FL)
Chávez entered publishing as a specialist in electronic products (first at Silver Platter and subsequently with the Thompson Group) and later moved to the more traditional printed book. He joined Editorial Océano Inc., the U.S.-based business unit of Spanish publisher Grupo Océano, in 2002. Océano Inc. started off in Miami four years ago with the aim of commercializing its line of digital products; in 2005, it began to import books from its editorial offices in Spain and Latin America. “We mainly sell reference titles to public libraries systems,” says Chávez. “We are now working with some companies that carry out door-to-door sales, but that still is a minimum percentage of our sales.” The books are brought in mainly from Barcelona and the final destinations, according to Chávez’s own research, are usually Florida, Illinois, New York, New Mexico, Texas, and California. An Ecuadorian immigrant himself, Chávez is proud of the rise in cultural diversity of the Latino community in the last two decades. “I love the fact that the Spanish language is gaining strength in this country and that I can make my own contribution to the change.”
What works: “[Our] encyclopedias on different Latin American countries. Also health and children’s books.” The challenges: “This market is still an enigma. U.S. publishers are mainly [publishing] nonfiction titles by authors well-known in [the United States], such as television celebrity Jorge Ramos,” explains Chávez. “[Océano is] still focused on our traditional business but we will probably have to adapt.” Chávez cites one common problem: “César Chávez is not known outside U.S. borders but he is well-known here… [yet] he is not mentioned in our reference books, which is a real concern.” Chávez adds that this is a typical “disadvantage and at some point we will have to act on it.” Prospects: “Politics will be crucial in determining the future of the [Spanish-language book] market. Under the current administration, public libraries have suffered cuts in funding. A political change in social services would bring more funding to the acquisition of material, given that the Spanish-speaking community is growing.”
Críticas Magazine – Océano – 8/1/2005
Océano presents four online reference databases for students and professionals. Océano Colegial (Knowledge), the most general reference tool of the group, features, among other things, more than 50,000 articles from periodicals, 1,900 historical documents including the Indies Archives, and a selection of more than 500 literary works, all in Spanish. Océano Administración (Business Management) contains more than 60,000 documents in Spanish about economics and management. A useful feature is the management and finances dictionary, which offers both English/Spanish and Spanish-only definitions. Although aimed at both students and professionals, many of the lengthy articles are more appropriate for scholars and business professionals. Océano Escolar (School), an information center designed to aid students in the learning process, stands out for offering helpful study techniques, articles on organizing time, taking notes, etc. A self-evaluation link allows users to take quizzes on certain topics. Finally, with over 60,000 documents in Spanish about medicine, nursing, and health, Océano Medicina y salud(Medicine and Health) is primarily intended for medical students and health professionals. Yet it is easy enough for people without a health background to find information on different medical conditions and a thorough discussion on need-specific treatments.
All four titles share a similar search system. Users can search through the general search box at the top of the page, through the advanced search option, or they can follow a guided thematic search using directory links. The first two options can get complicated; typing a single word in the general search box brings up a wide range of articles and modifying the results by adding a couple of terms can result in articles that have nothing to do with the subject in question. In the advanced search, users need to know a great deal about their topic in order to fill out the search parameters. The directory option is perhaps the best way to explore a given topic. The subject directory “trees” are very extensive and carefully designed, so users are always aware of how they arrived at a certain topic.
BOTTOMLINE:
Though these databases realy heavily on sources from Spain, they bring together valuable information, all written originally in Spanish, which would be extremely difficult to find in any individual reference book. Moreover, the databases stand out for including self-help information, from useful management tips for the small or family business owner to an instructional health link to study techniques. The price tag is high, but Colegial, Administración y finanzas, and Medicina y salud are worthy purchases for public libraries. School libraries should consider buying Escolar and Colegial.
© 2006, Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All Rights Reserved.
El profesional de la información, v.12, n.5, sept-oct 2003
“Certainly, Océano Consulta is an informative online resource in the Spanish language, available in a growing number of public libraries and universities, intended for students between 15 and 20 years of age, renowned for its reference databases and effective search tools.”
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© 2006 El Profesional de la información
Diario Reforma (Mexico) – July 2002
“For the past two years, Editorial Océano, for example, has prepared digital reproductions of about 120 titles, which they call reference works, that will be unveiled in the next month. According to Yuri Chávez, Director of Sales for Digital Media, these digital projects are profitable, do not compete with printed books, open more markets, and make information available to more people.”
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CliC/Thera, Centre de Llenguatge i Computació
“The incorporation of linguistic technology in a reference document database on the Internet results in a series of advantages with regards to the efficiency and flexibility of the searches, as well as the quality of the information obtained; allowing also the incorporation of the documents into several products because of the systematic and structured information with which the electronic texts have been improved. The portal developed by Océano Consulta in collaboration with CliC/Thera, Centre de Llenguatge i Computació at Universidad de Barcelona – as well as other content development and information systems companies – is a good example of the benefits of using linguistics technology. It also demonstrates the possibility of improving the process of information retrieval and withdrawal if the appropriate knowledge of linguistics is applied.”
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© 2006 Editorial Océano
